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The Senate adjourned for its August recess Saturday morning without voting on the Protect College Sports Act. But as part of an agreement to adjourn, the PCSA is slated for a vote between Sept. 15 and Sept. 23rd when the chamber returns.
“Our work is not over,” Senate Commerce Committee chairman Ted Cruz (R., Texas) said shortly before 3 a.m. ET Saturday. “The good news is that when the Senate returns in September, the Protect College Sports Act will be one of our first orders of business, having locked in a vote.”
The news ended a rocky week for the bill on Capitol Hill.
Despite taking the first step to a vote earlier in the week, the PCSA was competing with several other legislative priorities. Among Democrats, opposition mounted from the Congressional Black Caucus and AFL-CIO, while Republican senators and interest groups raised last-minute concerns over whether the bill would overturn state laws preventing transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports. Three senators filed an amendment related to the transgender issue.
Sens. Pete Ricketts (R., Neb.) and John Hickenlooper (D., Colo.) signed on as cosponsors Thursday night, bringing the bill’s total to eight. The White House, which backs the bill, continued to lobby senators.
“The Protect College Sports Act is a great bill, and the Senate will hopefully stay in D.C. until it passes,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social Friday afternoon. “Stop grandstanding, and try getting this done.”
The bill was not on the voting agenda for Friday at all. But cosponsors Cruz, Maria Cantwell (D., Wash), and Eric Schmitt (R., M.O.) worked to get the PCSA on the schedule for a late-night vote along with other legislative priorities as part of a “global agreement” before adjourning.
At about 2:30 a.m. Saturday, however, Senate leadership punted on the legislation for the night—but agreed to allow a cloture vote in September.
“Time may have run out to protect college sports in August, but there is plenty of time in September,” Cantwell said in a statement. “I’m glad Senator Thune set a date certain in September to bring it up because the challenges facing student athletes and universities aren’t going away.”
Even if it passes the Senate in September, the PCSA faces a long road to Trump’s desk before the end of the year. It would have to pass the House of Representatives in the weeks leading up to the midterms or during the lame-duck session, an uphill battle for any legislation.
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